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Smarter Mom: Handling The Not-So-Perfect Trip

Soooo, let's play the pretend game. Let's pretend that on the morning you are supposed to get to Omaha, there is a huge snowstorm. You are on your stop-over in Chicago, and the big electronic board of Arrivals and Departures starts flipping to a long list of red "DELAY"s...and yup, your flight is one of them. You and the family are stranded, at least for a bit. What do you do?

It could be a flight delay, a flat tire, horrible traffic on 1-95, or a myriad of other things that mess up those well-laid travel plans. How do you handle the not-so-perfect trip? Freak out? Get mad? The number one thing to remember is how you react to a blip or blizzard in the road impacts to how your kids will react. Here are some ideas to just plain bad travel juju hits your trip.

-- Be honest. As you hit the fifth hour of waiting at the airport or in the crawling line of cars, and he kids begin to whine, "This is NO fun!", agree with them. It isn't fun. It isn't great. Be honest, but don't dwell on it.

-- Try to keep the fun going. Turn it into a mystery or adventure or a scavenger hunt. This helps for a little while. Make a huge list of things you need to find or play the "what if" game - what if that man has a mechanical monkey in his briefcase?

-- Keep your sense of humor and perspective. This isn't so bad, keep breathing, remember patience and the fact that every person, from the lady behind the ticket counter to the waitress at the diner to your kids, is dealing with their own "life stuff" right now. Don't take your "life stuff" out on them.

-- Get a mantra ready before you leave the house. There will probably be delays. Your kids may describe Great Aunt Lila's creamed oyster stew as "Something the cat threw up" right in front of Aunt Lila. The flight attendant may not have the warmest demeanor. No matter what it is that makes your trip not to great, have a mantra to keep you focused and from not flying off the wall.

Share how you handle travel stress...or when you didn't handle it so well!

We don't travel by plane as a family, too many of us..But we have had busted hoses and flat tires and not judged the next gas station so well..But my dh ALWAYS has extra hose, a spare tire and 10 gallons of gas ( in jerry cans in the back) And I tell my kids beforehand to expect delays,heat,exhaustion but to remember to have FUN...And one year we were traveling it was HOT..SO we had ice wars in the car...Everyone cooled down a bit and within a few minutes it was dry...That's why I say BE FLEXIBLE, sometimes your best laid plans get sabbotaged...And we are way out west and HATE the city....

We just make sure to have chargers and extra batteries so he can keep playing on the phone/tablet/whatever when flights are delayed... Then the momma proceeds to stress out, but at least the kiddo is distracted!

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